A security guard was sacked after leaving his store to catch a thief.

Charles Oloro, 42, lost his job of 14 years at HMV after leaving the chain’s shop in the St Nicholas Centre, Sutton, to chase a man who had just taken a stack of DVDs.

On December 31 last year Mr Oloro was watching the man as he made his way to the door.

The man made a bolt for the exit and Mr Oloro said instinct took over and he chased him out of the door.

About 10m from the shop entrance, the security guard tackled the thief and frogmarched him back to the shop, where he called police.

But his actions saw him hauled in front of his bosses and led to him losing his job.

HMV policy is for security guards to avoid confrontational incidents, including outside of store environments, that have the potential to escalate into something much more serious.

Mr Oloro, who has two mortgages, said he was just trying to help the shop and save them from losing money.

He said: “Twenty DVDs is £200 for the shop, it was too much to lose. In a time of recession, I just wanted to save the shop money, and this is how they repay me.”

He went to his manager after the incident to apologise for leaving the shop.

An HMV spokesman said the policy its loss prevention officer (LPO) should not put themselves in danger was introduced in 2007 after a member of staff in Norwich was stabbed to death after apprehending a thief.

He said: “While I am not in a position to give specific details of why Mr Oloro has been dismissed from his position as an LPO at our Sutton branch, not least because he still has a right of appeal, which we would not wish to prejudice, I can confirm he was asked to leave for an accumulation of reasons, including most recently for a clear breach of company procedure during an incident that took place at the store last week.”

HMV customer Kieran Spears, said: “Charlie is a hero. He has been there as long as I remember, he’s such a nice guy and everyone knows him.

“What is the point in having security guards if they cannot tackle thieves?”